


Hojo's Closet

by hikaxan



Series: Empathy [3]
Category: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Gen, Hojo Does Not Actually Make An Appearance, Hojo is His Own Warning, Vague references to the main story, original characters in supporting roles - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-02
Updated: 2020-05-02
Packaged: 2021-02-23 02:02:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23903980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hikaxan/pseuds/hikaxan
Summary: After bringing Hojo back into the fold of ShinRa, Rufus doesn't trust the professor as far as he can throw him. So he sends Elena, a few SOLDIERs and a data retrieval team to the decommissioned lab under the ShinRa manor in Nibelheim to find out everything he needs to know about Project S and Project Jenova.This is a One-off: Technically a side story of Empathy but could probably be read independently, includes minor references to events in the main story. Runs parallel to events in Chapters 20-24 in Empathy
Series: Empathy [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1546723
Kudos: 8





	Hojo's Closet

Kunsel sat in the truck as it moved along down the ill-managed road. It was better than many off-road trips he had taken in the past, but some of the others in the vehicle clearly didn’t think so. He smirked, even the petite blonde Turk sitting at the other end of the truck was looking a little rough around the edges for it.

After they had gotten to Junon from up north there was a call for a few SOLDIERs to go to Nibelheim. Kunsel was the first S-1 to respond. One of the others, who had only joined four years ago, had given him a look, wondering why he would want to go to such a backwater town. Kunsel just gave him a knowing smirk and said. "Everyplace has history."

He had been curious to go there for years now, but there had never been a need mission wise. Now he had the chance to see this place, this little "backwater town" that had swallowed up people who should have at least left evidence of their passing. He also knew this to be the home of two of the current Avalanche members.

Kunsel frowned. He had gone with Rude to pick up Avalanche outside of the crater. There he had held the buster sword in his hands, but had failed to keep it. It was likely still on the Highwind, along with Cloud's escaped friends. Rude said that Cloud was _given_ the sword, and Kunsel could vaguely remember Zack talking about the young fellow country boy who he had met on his mission to Modeoheim. The mission where Zack inherited the buster sword from Angeal.

A bump in the road shook him out of his thoughts, and he looked out of the back of the truck to see a pothole rapidly shrinking into the distance. This was probably the road that the last "true First Class" SOLDIERs took. Sephiroth and Zack. No one knew what had happened. After all, everyone who went on that mission was dead. His eyes narrowed slightly in thought, everyone except Cloud Strife. Kunsel had wanted to talk to him, but the man was unconscious on arrival in Junon, and was under strict guard.

After Zack and Sephiroth had gone missing in action there was chaos within the organization. They were leaderless without Sephiroth, who had taken command after director Lazard Deusericus disappeared. It might have been okay if Zack had come back, he had taken the place of Angeal as the heart of SOLDIER. His presence could have been a buffer against what had come next. After all, being a SOLDIER had been one of the few things that Zack took seriously.

A shadow crossed Kunsel's face. After that SOLDIER was never the same. Without any other S-1s to take command, the unit was thrust into Heidegger's hands. In a near panic to fill out the numbers, the man had seen to rapidly promote a number of S-2s to First class by simplifying the test and started a massive recruitment drive. Qualifying to become a SOLDIER used to be an achievement. Now it took little more than a physical and having compatible blood work.

Kunsel closed his eyes and forced his thoughts back to their destination, back to Nibelheim.

He looked at the two rookies with him, they had barely been in the program for six months. Good thing they didn't know the history of Nibelheim like he did. It was practically cursed. Agents had gone missing, then Sephiroth and Zack. Most people didn't know where Sephiroth "died." Kunsel was one of the few who knew where they had gone because Zack was easy to get talking when you knew him. He wasn't exactly sure why this current mission required SOLDIERs come along. His presence as a First Class wasn't strictly warranted, but this was a perfect excuse to see the place for himself.

The petite blonde Turk was surprised to see one of his rank boarding the chopper in Junon, but didn't complain. Maybe she needed the extra hand, given how few Turks there were these days. There was some fiasco a few months back where all of the Turks had gone AWOL, in the end, only three were welcomed back. They had gotten a fourth Turk, the blonde he was looking at, and then their senior most member was announced KIA. At the rate they were going he wondered if the Turks as an organization would last much longer.

He frowned, thinking about what had happened to SOLDIER. Was it better to fade away or become something completely different and somehow less?

***

As the truck came to a stop out front of the ShinRa Manor, Elena had them all exit the truck in order to stretch before gathering between the vehicle and the building. Kunsel could see she was nervous, he wondered if this was her first real op in charge. "Ok," she said, "quick recap before we go in. I am in charge, and SOLDIER Kunsel is second in command. As far as any of the villagers are concerned, we are to see about renovating the Manor as a corporate retreat. Per the president, none of locals are to know why we are really here. Wilson, Borland," the two troops straightened up further at their names, "Half the reason you are here is because you have some hands on experience that help with the cover. The Manor is supposed to be infested with monsters, and given it has around sixty rooms in the main structure, we can't assume we can clear them out in a short time. For the moment, myself and the SOLDIERs will go in and get a threat level assessment and clear the path to the target area, while the rest of you wait out here. We'll likely be here for weeks at minimum, so the SOLDIERs will be in charge of clearing a safe area and expanding it and the troops will be responsible for securing a minimum safe zone." She took a deep breath, giving everyone a moment for her info-dump to sink in. "We are really here to get information from a secret ShinRa Facility underneath the manor. The data retrieval team has already been briefed about what they need to know. Any questions?"

One of the infantrymen whose name she called raised a hand, and she pointed to him. "Are we expected to do any actual renovation work?"

"It depends on the state of facilities within the manor. I was planning us staying at the Inn at first, but that lets the villagers see too much of us, so I'd like us to be able to stay here. Once we have done an initial threat assessment and seen how well we can secure areas we will know for sure. Anyone else?" There were no other hands. "Good. Kunsel, the S-3s and myself will head inside in ten minutes. Sargent Castillo," she said, looking to a tan, dark haired troop, "You're in charge until we return."

The data team and the troops clustered into their separate groups and chatted a bit as the blonde went back to the truck, pulling out a hard case that housed a small arsenal of her personal weapons. Kunsel stepped in behind her, sat on the bench opposite and made a show of re-tying his boots. "If it helps," he said, intending for only her to hear, "I think you did good with the brief."

She glanced at him, checking her pistol, "I just pretended to be my dad on day one of a family vacation."

"Sounds…. fun," he said carefully.

"Establish location, goal and ground rules" She smirked, "Then see how much trouble everyone gets themselves into."

"So you're a military brat then?"

"Whatever gave you that idea?" she replied, still smiling and strapping a wrist sheath with a set of throwing daggers on her forearm.

She got out of the back of the truck, armed with a pistol, a set of throwing knives and a second rank Heal materia equipped. Like many people, Elena was not great at wielding materia. She could use it, but she lacked the talent to make quick use of it in combat. It was one of the reasons she was happy to have the SOLDIERs along. Her gaze went again to Kunsel as she adjusted her gloves. She had requested any three SOLDIERS, and had expected to get only S-3s. _Maybe_ an S-2, not a First Class.

For some reason, he wanted to be here, that was the only explanation.

Elena watched the S-1 put his helmet on over his rich, chocolate brown hair. She found it interesting how the SOLDIER process turned their coloration and features up to eleven. Everyone knew about the eyes, usually glowing blue or green, it was the most notable feature given how they glowed. Few realized how a SOLDIER's skin seemed smoother and more vibrant, a feature that many a wealthy woman would pay an arm and a leg for. Their hair usually got a color boost too, that usually wasn't noticed, since most of the time SOLDIERs had helmets on in public. Blondes became more yellow, losing most of the hints of brown that natural blondes had, sometimes it went pale like corn silk. Those with darker shades often ended up with black hair, but with a strange sheen of red or blue, like raven feathers. Brown hair usually turned more auburn or blonde, depending where on the spectrum the original color was.

Kunsel was an interesting case. It was as though he took on a super version of normal in his coloration. She assumed his gold eyes had once been brown, and there was no way the deep rich brown of his hair was what he was naturally born with. In the sunlight she had seen that it had some deep brown lowlights peeking out from underneath, the striping reminded her of walnut wood.

She walked up the front steps the large front door, and turned back to the three SOLDIERs. "Ready to go, gentlemen?"

***

The day after they returned from the crater Elena was called in to see Rufus at the executive office in Junon. As soon as she was standing at attention in front of him, he spoke. "I'm sending you to Nibelheim," he said plainly.

"What's the job, sir?"

"Similar to Icicle Inn. I am not convinced that Hojo will give me a full and honest report. His old lab is in a hidden basement below ShinRa Manor. I want to see the skeletons in Hojo's closet."

She didn't think there was a truck big enough for that many secrets. "Anything I should focus on?"

"Given the fact the Sephiroth is a looming presence I want you to focus on any files there that relate to the Jenova Project, Specifically Project S. I have it on good authority that that is where we will find out about Sephiroth's origins." Rufus said. "You have until tomorrow afternoon to get what you need together."

"Yes, sir."

"One more thing," he added, "The residents of Nibelheim appear to be on someone's payroll, and it's not mine. Don't let them know why you are really there. Come up with something else."

"Of course, sir. Leave it to me."

"Dismissed."

Once she was out of the office she had almost run to find one of her seniors and ask for advice on the mission. She was happy to find Rude first, Reno had been in a mood lately and she didn't want to bother him. The data retrieval team she had covered. She would just use the same team who came from Icicle Inn with her. She also needed information about ShinRa Manor, all she had heard about it before was ghost stories. She would not have asked Rude about it, but she needed fast access to facts if she was going to put a group together in just over twenty-four hours.

***

The building was dark inside, a large portion of the windows were boarded up and the ones that weren't were covered in years' worth of grime to keep in the darkness. Beams of sunlight highlighted bits of dust that were stirred up from their entrance. Overpowering the stagnant smell of neglect was that of decay, there were likely dead monsters somewhere inside. Word was that Avalanche had come through town, it wouldn't be unexpected for them to come to the ShinRa Manor for information.

Elena and the S-3s cast their flashlights into the darkness, while Kunsel tried to pay more attention with his other senses. He heard a quiet sound coming from a room off of the foyer, and gestured that way. Sadler turned the light where he indicated in time to see creatures that looked like jack-o-lanterns with cloth, ghost-like bodies trailing behind them. They flew into the room and Elena and Kunsel charged forward without a moment's hesitation. Naturally, the SOLDIER reached them first, and sliced one in two with a swing of his sword. Elena jumped up, kicked one to the ground then landed a crushing blow on its head, it cracked open like a meaty pumpkin.

One of the things moved over the blonde woman and a strange sparkling dust began to fall out of it. Before the substance touched her, Kunsel's blade swung over her, cutting up from beneath the creature, nearly bisecting it and killing it. Trusting that it was taken care of, Elena flung several daggers in rapid succession at another. She gritted her teeth in disappointment that she did not manage to finish it off with the one attack. Kunsel struck it down and then another. The last one flew up higher, trying to get away. "I'll ground it!" she said reflexively before the S-1 could ready a spell to finish it off. Kunsel grinned as she ran up the stairs, then jumped over the banister and landed a solid kick on the ghost-like creature, knocking it towards the ground where the First Class SOLDIER was waiting. He took it out with an almost casual, one-handed swipe of his sword.

Sadler and Church stared, they hadn't even drawn their swords yet, the other two had been too fast. Reacting instantly and taking out the, arguably lesser, creatures with seemingly no effort.

"What do you two think doing!?" They snapped out of their haze as the S-1 turned on them. "Because it looks like the answer is _nothing_."

"Sir! Sorry, Sir!"

"You two could have moved in at the same time as us. You need to be fast on your feet and reactions." Kunsel said sternly. "Most of the time you will be with people who are _not_ enhanced." He went on to tell them about how SOLDIERs are supposed to protect their normal comrades when they need it and to anticipate their actions and to not be in the damn way at the same time. "Now, you're going to take the next one, and I better not have to kick you in the ass to get you moving."

"Sir!"

"Are we ready to move gentleman?" Elena said after a second of silence.

"Yeah," Kunsel said, "Just let the rookies go first if you don't mind. I need to see what they can actually _do_."

She smiled sweetly, as the two men in question shifted uncomfortably. "Of course. After you."

***

After Elena located and opened the secret door, Kunsel led the way down the spiral stairs, gingerly testing each on the way down. The air in this stairwell was more stale than what was in the main building, likely uncirculated for quite a while. "Sadler," he said to the S-3 in the back, "Close the door behind you, I know it's stuffy, but we don't want anything coming in behind us."

The third class nodded and did as he was ordered without argument. Kunsel didn't have to explain it to him, but he did so in case the Turk was wondering and he wanted to keep conversation to a minimum until they were sure it was safe. He guessed it was a good forty feet down the stairs into the secret basement and he wondered if there was an elevator somewhere, that or the people who used to come down here were damn healthy. On the way down they startled a few bats, which Kunsel ordered Church and Sadler to take care of with spells rather than try and fight them on the uncertain stairs and see how they handled materia.

At the bottom was a partly finished tunnel, dust and some crates lining the uneven walls. At least the lightning was still mostly intact, some of the bulbs were out, making it a little dim, but they didn’t need to waste hands with flashlights anymore. As they moved forward they found no other living creatures. "The library should be straight ahead." Elena said.

He nodded back to her, eyeballing a barely open door with a key sticking in it, he heard nothing beyond it but, tilted his head towards it, "Church, Sadler, check that out. I'll move towards the target area with her." Compared to upstairs, the basement was relatively silent, a light buzz of electricity travelling through old wires was about the only notable sound. When they got to the library door, the Turk wanted to go first. If Kunsel had thought there was anything there he wouldn't have let her, he was here for her protection after all.

He opened the door and she walked in, made it about three steps and then stopped and stared.

Thinking she might have been stunned by some kind of mystical attack, the SOLDIER stepped in and found no creature, but a long, large room lined with books upon books. There was the high ceiling was close fifteen feet high, with bookshelves up to the full height. He let out a low whistle, "You're supposed to copy _all of this_?" Yeah, he would take guard duty and monster clearing every day of the _year_ over this. "What is this place anyway?"

"Hojo's old lab," Elena sighed, her voice filled with a sense of hopeless resignation, "President Rufus doesn't trust him, or believe that he will share all of the pertinent information." The woman slapped a hand over her mouth, then looked at him sheepishly. "Please don't repeat that. We're supposed to keep the contents as secret as possible."

He flipped up his visor to get a better look at the room, the soft gold glow of his eyes obvious in the dim lighting. "Can’t make First Class without _some_ discretion," he smirked. "I'll keep the thirds at the entrance after we do a sweep. It looks like the doors to the basement kept the monsters out of this part of the building, but it's best to be sure."

"Thanks, Kunsel," the Turk replied.

"Ma'am"

The rookie's came up behind him and he waved them through to the other end of the library where another door led into other parts of the facility. Leaving Elena to lament the unforseen size of her task.

***

At the end of the first day, Kunsel made a point of being the last one out of the basement. While Elena was gathering up the data team he decided to take a closer look at the side room they had passed on the way in.

There were details about this room that just didn't add up. A layer of dust covered everything, fine. Several empty coffins were among the boxes in the room, weird, but ok. Aside from Sadler and Church, who clearly didn't go very far into the small room, the dust had one pair of foot prints going in, up to one open coffin, but two coming out. The amount of time someone would have had to have been in the coffin for that to track meant that they should _probably_ be dead. He kneeled down and looked at the lining in the box. It wasn't much, but indents that indicated a human shape had once lain there was obvious. There was no mess, no decay, no lingering smell of rot.

He checked along the walls of the coffin, expecting to find some kind of materia slot. Perhaps a perpetual _Stop_ spell could have explained it, even if he had no idea how someone would have gotten it to work.

Nothing.

Kunsel stood and scratched the back of his head. What kind of crazy bullshit did Hojo do to a man that would let him survive this long?

***

_Subject: Initial Report_

_On the first day, we were able to push through to the target area. Doors to that zone had kept the resident monsters out of the lower section of the building required by our team. By the end of the first day the scanning equipment has been set up, but it was deemed in the best interest of the team to vacate the structure before nightfall and sleep off premises._

_The lower facility has several sections, the area where the library is has been deemed safe and cleared of hostiles. The SOLDIERs are continuing to clear out and segment the main structure to ensure a safe zone there before clearing out the other areas of the facility._

_Day two consisted of set up tasks. The electrical wiring had to be checked and the web connection had to be re-established. An assessment of the document library shows that a vast majority of the documents are in good condition, which should allow for faster feed scanning with minimal exposure of the actual content to the team being necessary. We have also determined the existing organizational system for most of the documents, which should help speed along getting the most relevant data out first. This is important due to the vast number of documents located within._

_Judging by those with labels, documentation for at least two hundred different projects exist in this library (some of them are one-off experiments others consisting of multiple books)._

_As of today (day 3) the physical assets are beginning to be processed. I have started evaluating the old terminals. The terminal of the primary subject has been located and security on the outdated terminals should be easy to manage. I hope this will result in less of a need to scan the physical assets, but given the handwritten nature of most of the library, it is a slim one._

***

"You got that last one in place yet Sadler?" Kunsel called down the hall.

"This one is all set, sir," he called, walking back down. "The hallways should all be secure."

On the trip from Junon to Costa Del Sol Kunsel got a better idea of what his job duties would be from Elena. Knowing that, he requisitioned some expandable barriers before they left. They were metal gates made to push against the walls and hold themselves in place via tension. Theoretically, this would keep monsters from coming through. Kunsel wasn't convinced how much they would actually keep larger creatures out, but they would certainly make enough noise trying to break through that the SOLDIERs would have time to respond. Honestly, Kunsel thought they looked like industrial strength baby gates, but they did the job. They had enough to block off the hallways that led into other parts of the building. That left the foyer and the rooms immediately off of that to be thoroughly cleared before he was willing to call the path that the non-coms had to take to the lab safe.

"Alright, then, let's clear the rest of this area," Kunsel ordered as his men joined him in the foyer. "You two check that room, first, I'll clear the one over there."

"Yes, sir."

"And don't forget to check the rafters," he pointed out as he walked across the way.

"Yes, sir."

It took the better part of two hours for the SOLDIERs to definitively clear out the foyer and the unnecessary amounts of rooms that adjoined it. They did, admittedly extend their search to the dining room and kitchen as those were facilities they would want up and running.

They were just wrapping up with a final walk through when Church came up to Kunsel. "Sir," he said handing him a faded piece of paper, "I thought you might want to see this."

Kunsel took it, and immediately noted the yellowed nature, which implied it was old. The handwriting was also not great,

_I must get rid of all those that stand in the way of my research. Even that one from the Turks._

_I scientifically altered him, and put him to sleep in the basement. If you want to find him, then search the area._

_This is merely a game I thought of. It is not necessary for you to participate if you don't want to._

Then there was a scribble of ink, someone clearly trying to get a pen to work. Otherwise the only thing written in the other handwriting was a safe combination and two words: _Found him_. This place had been abandoned for a long time. He wondered how many people found this note before and ignored it.

 _That explains the room with the coffins_ , Kunsel thought to himself. He frowned looking at the note again. A former Turk, huh? "I'll bring this down to Elena later," he said, "Let's double check the gates and take the corpses out back and burn 'em before we call it done for the day. Tomorrow we'll work down that hall," he said pointing to the second story landing, "see if we can't push back far enough to get rooms for everyone to sleep in."

***

"He what?!" Elena slapped a hand over her mouth as her exclamation echoed in the high ceilinged basement library. She walked out into the hall and whispered harshly back into the phone. "The president wants _daily reports_? What am I going to report? How many pages we scanned?"

Kunsel poked his head out of a side room and arched a brow in her direction.

"He wants to actually know what we found?... But I haven't really been reading-… I know but… Yes I _know_ it's my job, Rude!... Okay, fine. I guess I'll start reading then!" she slammed her phone shut and took a deep breath and almost regretted it as the musty air went into her nose. They had turned the air circulation system back on, but it had years of work to make up for.

"Sounds like you'll be busier than you thought, huh?"

She turned to the SOLDIER, surprised for a moment that he was there. Then her shoulders slumped. "Yeah, looks like I'm actually going to have to read some of this stuff. I'm not even sure I'll understand any of it."

"It's not like you have to understand _all_ of it," he said. "Just skim it and give him the highlights. He'll tell you if he wants more info on something."

She sighed, "I guess you're right."

"Are you sure you don't want my help, Ma'am? I'm sure I've got clearance."

She looked up at him, "You do…" she said slowly, "But do you know anything about biotechnology?"

He grinned, his golden eyes shining in the dark, "I might know a _little bit_ more than I am supposed to about the process that makes me a SOLDIER, and I understaaand…" he trailed off for a second as he looked up thoughtfully. "About 70% of it."

She chuckled, "And the other 30%?"

He shrugged, "Numbers, figures, I don't have much of a head for them outside of the basics and without comparison it doesn't mean a whole lot. Some of the details I don't quite get, either."

She gave it a few moments of thought, "I guess it wouldn't be bad for you to poke around. You can check out the stuff we're not focusing on…"

"Will do, Ma'am." Kunsel grinned and moved to walk away, then stopped. "I almost forgot," he reached into his pocket and pulled a folded piece of paper from his pocket, "Church found this upstairs yesterday."

Elena took the note, read it and frowned, "This explains where Valentine came from."

"You know who it is?" He asked, surprised.

She nodded, "He's with Avalanche now, the gunman in red."

Kunsel thought back to when they had picked up the group outside the crater. At the time, he had been mostly focused on Cloud Strife, as he had set his sights on recovering Zack's Buster Sword. The man in red was hard to miss, though. Honestly, if you put each member of Avalanche into a room with normal people they all had their ways of standing out. He remembered the care that Valentine took helping along the injured woman among them. Kunsel could tell that he was physically enhanced by how little the hike to the airship bothered him despite helping, and often carrying, the woman on the way back.

Elena's sigh pulled him out of his thoughts and he noticed her staring back in the direction of the library. "Why do I get the feeling I'm going to hate _everything_ I find here?"

"Because you have a brain, Ma'am"

"You don't have to call me that all the time, you know."

"Really? You are kinda my boss right now, I feel like I can't just call you by your name."

"I guess so…"

"How about 'Miss Elena'? Can I call you that?"

She immediately cringed, that made her feel like a child for some reason and in the current environment that was worse than feeling old. "Never mind, 'Ma'am' is just fine."

***

Emily Vaughn looked up from her phone as she walked into the room that was the entrance to the basement facility. It had been a semblance of a lounge when the manor was active and Kunsel had convinced Elena to keep it as such. Saying they needed a safe place with some sunlight to be able to relax in if they were going to be basically living in this place for the next couple weeks. She did not take much convincing, citing that the manor itself was his job to clear, and if that was how he wanted to do it, that was fine as long as no one got hurt. The fact that he had Sadler and Church help the normal troopers clean up the space also got him on their good side too.

She stopped as she saw one of the other data team members in the room, Sora Kamiya, sitting on the floor behind an old television. "Sora, what are you doing?"

"What does it look like?" Kamiya replied. "I'm setting up a TV."

"Why?"

"So we can watch the execution later today."

"Ugh… morbid much?"

"Ok, that's not the real reason why, but that is the deadline I'm giving myself." He waggled his eyebrows at her, "D _eadline_ , get it?"

She rolled her eyes, "Well, given the time difference you have… two hours. Good luck getting a signal way out here."

He chuckled, she clearly was unaware of his skills. "You do know I re-established the web hook-up here, right? I wasn't skipping out on organizing the library, like you probably think."

"And how is _this_ important?" she asked, gesturing to the TV.

"You think the boss lady wouldn't want to keep up with the news? Or maybe watch a soap opera? A TV is good to have. Besides, I already got Church to help me with the satellite dish."

She arched a brow, "You got a SOLDIER to help you?"

Kamiya shrugged, "What can I say? I'm a convincing guy."

"uh-huh," she said doubtfully. "I guess as long as you don't get in trouble with Miss Winslow then it doesn't really matter."

"'Miss Winslow?' Are we really that formal? Just call her Elena. This is, like, our second job with her."

"That hardly puts us on a first name basis, besides there's enough military guys around that it doesn't feel right to call her by her first name."

"Kunsel does."

"No, he addresses her as 'Ma'am', like the others do. He refers to her by her name if she's not in the room. Anyway, he's a First Class SOLDIER, she's a Turk, there's probably some weird comradery there. "

"Oh! Or maaaybe…" he paused dramatically, "they're banging."

Her lip curled in disgust, "Is that really the first place your brain goes? What are you, twelve?"

"Oh no," he said, "My brain didn't get that way until at least fifteen."

"Behind the curve I see," she said sarcastically, "That's not surprising."

***

Kamiya had the news on with nearly thirty minutes to spare. They ended up bringing in wooden chairs from elsewhere and lining them up in front of the TV. All of the cushions on the sofas were too far gone for anyone to want to sit on them.

Both Kunsel and Elena gave leave for anyone who wanted to watch the news broadcast from Junon. In the end, only Vaughn and Sergeant Castillo, who was a native of Costa Del Sol, decided to sit out the viewing. Several of them weren't too keen of the idea of an execution, but these were members of Avalanche, the people who had dropped the Sector 7 Plate, so it was understandable that the company would resort to such extreme punishment. The live broadcast, on the other hand, seemed unnecessary to most of them.

They watched in silence, morbid curiosity and somber respect for the moment, even Kamiya refrained from making any commentary.

Until the sea monster showed up at any rate. A mix of concern and excitement went through the group as the Cannon fired, then the feed went dark. Seconds later the news anchor from Midgar reported that the power had gone out in Junon.

Church swore, "Are you fucking kidding me!?"

In the back, Kunsel leaned over to Elena, "Ten gil says that when then lights come back on, Avalanche is gone."

"No way," she said, "Reno and Rude are in Junon."

"But they're not in the press room with them, and the base is a pretty big place to get around when the power is out."

"I'm with Kunsel on this one," Leon said.

"Okay then," Elena said, "You're on, Kunsel, and make it twenty."

"Isn't anyone worried about the sea monster?"

As the question was asked, the feed came back on, the reporter was saying that the sea monster appeared to be destroyed, but the power was still out. Emergency power to critical infrastructure was up but so far everything was fine. Kunsel, leaning on the doorframe chuckled and shook his head, "I bet Heidegger is losing his shit right now," he muttered.

Several minutes passed before the reporters had anything new or useful to say, and it was even longer until the power came back on in Junon. Eventually word was given that the execution was postponed. Knowing how to read the situation Elena's shoulder's slumped and she reached into her pocket, and passed Kunsel the money.

***

_Subject: Report - Original Project Brief_

_Preliminary overview of the main topic is scanned and attached, it is clearly written by two people. Also included is a file with an attempted transcription of the target's handwriting. It is awful._

_To sum up the attached: The project in question had the objective to "implant the cells of an Ancient directly into a human fetus to imbue said fetus with the Ancient's abilities." (Note: Jenova was believed to be an Ancient at the time of this project). The initial write up goes on to assume that the methods will lead to a superior end result than Project G. Project G was conducted at another facility and the subject spends a bit of time about how his methods are superior (This section highlighted in green in case you wish to skip it)._

***

Having Kunsel's help with the files was proving useful. For her first real report he skimmed the preliminary documents and helped her put together a brief, comprehensible summary. Since then, he would skim random volumes and mention anything he thought might be pertinent. This had been the way for nearly a week.

"Ma'am..." She turned to him, surprised. She had yet to hear such a serious and angry tone in his voice.

"What is it?" She asked, approaching him.

His expression and body language spoke of him holding something back, as he handed her another binder. This was curious, the books at that end of the library had been dated for over a decade later, long after Sephiroth and Hojo had moved to Midgar, what could be relevant from here? "Just skip to the photos," he said, his eyes smoldering with a golden glow.

She read the title "Jenova Project, Project C." Opening it she flipped until she found a two page spread with two subjects. "You're kidding me..." she muttered, eyes wide. Photos of two unconscious young men, Specimen A was in the uniform of an S-1, First Class SOLDIER and Specimen B was a familiar blonde infantryman clearly in his teens. Zack Fair and Cloud Strife. She had heard of Fair, of course, he was a First Class when the rank had less than five members and Director Lazard Deusericus took the admission to such a rank very seriously. One of her friends had even joined his fan club.

"How often does ShinRa approve of things like this?" Kunsel asked darkly, but quietly enough that the data team couldn't hear him, "How often do they turn their back on good, loyal men?"

"I.. I don’t know," She said honestly, they both knew she was too green to know as many secrets as Kunsel did. "I know things are changing under Rufus," She said quickly, as if it might help alleviate the man's obvious anger. "But… I don't know how," she admitted lamely.

He almost snatched the folder out of her hands. "If you don’t mind, I'm going to find out what happened to my friend, before this information disappears like he did."

She watched him walk over to one of the side rooms a pang in her chest. She didn't quite know what it was. Not guilt exactly, she had barely been a Turk for 3 months. Was it dread? Fear?

Biting her lip for a second, Elena left the library and went into a nearby lab. In her brief time with the book she had noted the room number of where Project C was held. Two glass tanks were standing against a wall. It was not hard to picture the two men suspended in them. Walking up, her brown eyes critically examined the tanks. They were thinly coated in dust and grime, but not nearly as much as other parts of the lab. This room had been in use much more recently. After Kunsel was done with the project book, she imagined she would find out how long go this room had been vacated.

She caught sight of an oddity, marks on the inside of both tanks where they faced each other. She scraped at the glass and decided it must have been done with fingernails. The first one she read was very badly done, uneven and warped letters that were hardly legible. "wANT oUt"

The other tank had scratches done with a more sturdy and heavy hand. "FEEDING TIME HANG ON. "

Would she be called upon one day to hand over loyal men, like Kunsel, to the likes of Hojo?

***

_Subject: Report - Supplementary Project Brief_

_Notes for a derivative project, Project C were discovered. The project brief (attached) contains an overview of an attempt to copy Sephiroth. The process was performed on First Class SOLDIER Zack Fair, infantryman Cloud Strife, and a number of the surviving members of the original town._

_It appears the "opportunity" for this came after Sephiroth killed a good portion of the residents and burned it down. Accounts of this came from the survivors who were subsequently made into subjects of the experiment and later became the black robed figures as a result. Given the outcome of the "reunion" in the crater it can be assumed that most, if not all of them, are now deceased._

***

Another few days came and went, the droning action of scanning documents punctuated by conversation among the data team. The most exciting thing to happen to people who weren't actually reading the paperwork was when Leon decided to buy a radio to bring downstairs so that they did not have to work in silence every day.

Elena found herself at the far end of the library where the earliest files of the Nibelheim lab were housed. Pulling random binders out to look at the covers. One caught her attention for the simple and non-descriptive label on it. No project association, no date, in a section of miscellaneous records.

"V.V., like five-five?" she opened the folder and found a photo of an unconscious man with black hair. His angular features were familiar to her, she had seen his old employee photo in his file, she had also run into him outside of Gongaga. "Why hello, Mr. Valentine," she grinned.

Eager to get information that she knew could be enlightening much sooner, she began flipping through the pages. It was almost entirely written in Hojo's cramped handwriting, but she did notice a slightly different attitude to the strokes. Whatever mood took him while writing this was different than anything else. It seemed no one else assisted him with this project, aside from helping to move or restrain Valentine. Morbid curiosity kept her flipping through a few pages of the photos and reading a few highlights. Eventually, she paled and closed the binder. She stared at the cover and wondered what the man had done to deserve such treatment.

***

_Subject: Other Project of Note_

_I found the file on Valentine. I am surprised that he is both still alive and sane. Suffice to say, I believe his hatred of the subject is more than justified. The details are hard to stomach, and the subject seemed to enjoy keeping a very detailed and graphic record of everything he did to Valentine who was, apparently, "in his way."_

_In short he was cut up… a lot._

_Recommendation: if you wish the target to live, never allow him the same room when Valentine could have a clear shot at him._

***

Elena sat in the breakroom of the lab below ShinRa Manor. Her head in her hands, an open laptop with a blank report file on screen, a closed binder on one side and a half cup cooled coffee on the other. Footsteps came into the room and a pair of muscular arms settled on the high table across from her. "You find a rough one?"

Her hands slid down her face and stopped to support her chin, a few fingers in front of her mouth. "Yeah…" she opened her mouth to say more, then just ended up shaking her head. She closed her eyes and shook her head. "Am I… bad at my job?"

Kunsel was taken aback by the question. "Why would you ask something like that?"

"Because, I'm beginning to feel like Avalanche might be right."

He let out a small laugh, "They're not right, at least not completely. But neither is the ShinRa." She looked up at the SOLDIER, a shocked look on her face. She'd never heard a SOLDIER say something like that before.

They had both flipped through many of the binders. Less than two days in, the pair agreed to shield most of the data team from the dirty details as long as they could. Most of the ones Kunsel picked up were unrelated to the Jenova project and not a focus of the current mission. The thing that struck him about what happened here was the people. So many people had been through these basement halls. Men, women, _children_. For at least half of them Hojo hadn't even bothered to record their names.

Materia Infusion, Mako radiation, grafting, attempts at building immunities to monster toxins. The results included side effects like radiation poisoning, gangrene, insanity, and mutation. Death was the outcome for most of them, for the unfortunate ones, death came a long while later. There was an influx of victims roughly ten years ago, and among them Kunsel recognized Veld, the last leader of the Turks. One of the few times where someone's positioned mattered, his lost arm was replaced and he was returned to work. Kunsel smelled a cover-up, even if he was not sure of what yet. Another influx was five years ago, when Zack and Cloud were brought in with the towns-folk. "Those people in Avalanche have their reasons," Kunsel said gesturing towards the hall, where the labs were. Most of them had containment cells attached to them, "and those are valid. But it doesn't mean that how they're going about it the right way. I mean Sector 7-"

"Wasn't their doing," she interrupted dully.

Golden eyes stared back at her, "What?"

"I'm not sure… but… I don't think they did it." A tragedy like that was still being talked about, sometimes in hushed tones. Reno's haunted look whenever the subject came up didn't escape her notice. "I think the former president might have…"

"Do you know?" he asked, leaning forward, "For sure, I mean?"

She shook her head in the negative "I don’t... I just suspect." She took a deep drink of her coffee, then stared into the cup. "Fuck this," she said, putting the mug down in the sink. "I need a real drink."

****

"Did you notice," Elena began with a slight slur, "That most of the monsters in the manor don't have proper legs?" she giggled.

"To be fair," Kunsel replied, "Half of it is animated furniture, which technically has _feet_."

"Yeah, but the one that _does_ have legs, has two torsos. What is _that_ about?"

"You got me," the SOLDIER replied, knocking back the rest of his drink and holding up his glass to indicate he wanted another. They had both dressed down into civilian clothing and were collecting a fair number of glasses at their table. "But you know, the bats are pretty normal. Except for their size."

"Bats don't have proper legs!" Elena said in drunken defense of her argument, "They can't walk around properly. They're… used for hanging from. Like coat hanger hooks." She put her glass down and said confidently, "They are bat hooks, not legs."

They were experiencing a strange sort of freedom by having their tongues tied. Out in public they couldn't talk about their real work, which was fine. That was what they wanted. To forget about the awful things they learned about. To forget about what the company they had devoted their lives to allowed to happen. Tomorrow, they would do something. That's what they told themselves tonight.

"I've been meaning to ask," she said, with a sudden change in topic. "Why did you keep your helmet? Don't S-1's normally get to not use it?"

"We're allowed to, sure, but I want to remember."

"Remember what?

 _Better days,_ he thought. "That I spent a lot of time _not_ being a First. That I had to train hard and earn it."

Elena looked confused, "No offense, but didn't Heidegger lower the bar after…?" she gestured to the town out the window.

Kunsel sighed, "Yes, but some of us didn't take the bait. We remembered what Angeal and Zack said about honor. There's a small group of us, that took to training hard, with and against each other until _we_ thought we were ready. Lazard didn't have a set list of qualifications for an S-1 classification. You had to be mentored by a First then recommended and evaluated by a different one. After that the three of them discussed…" His voice trailed off and he shook his head. "Now, it's just go into the training room and pass some stupid combat test within a time limit." He took another drink, "I'm just disappointed I didn’t beat the record."

Elena thought about it a minute. She thought about all of the work and training she put into becoming a Turk. Her sister had been one, and she trained hard for years to prove that she could be one too. Before Elena joined, nearly all of the Turks save for Tseng, Reno and Rude, went missing. Between her test and acceptance, Reno had been injured during the Sector 7 drop. How would she feel if she knew that Tseng had accepted her, not because he thought she deserved it, but just because they needed another person? If it wasn't for the fact that she was one of ten candidates she would have a lot more doubt about her appointment. "I get it."

"I thought you would, Miss Elena." She made a face at the nickname, he chuckled and stretched his arms over his head, "Ahh well, it's getting late anyway."

He waved down the server and the bill arrived. Elena snatched it up before he could, "Trust me, We get paid more."

Kunsel raised a brow, "Even more than a veteran S-1?"

"Maybe not," she shrugged, then grinned, "But I haven't been counting my drinks and doing the math all night."

He laughed nervously, "You could tell?"

"You depend on your helmet to hide your eyes too much."

They stepped out into the chilly mountain air and took a deep breath. "I gotta say," Kunsel said, "If there's one thing this place has over Midgar, it's the air."

It was well and truly dark by now, Nibelheim had few outdoor lights and no smog to obscure the sky. Elena looked up at the sea of stars above them. "The sky is nicer too."

"Shall I walk you home, Miss Elena?" He said with a grin, only a slight slur to his voice as he offered his elbow.

She huffed a laugh, "That's gonna take a long time, but I'm staying nearby." She did not take the offered arm, and they started towards the large dark house that loomed over the town. The path that led up to the manor had no lighting whatsoever, but there was at least enough of a moon for her to see the road. They made it to the walls of the yard with little issue, save a few drunken stumbles over the uneven ground. After they walked through the gate and he closed it behind them he stopped.

"Two months, starting today," he said suddenly.

"Huh?" she knew she was drunk, but did she miss him saying something before that?

"I think that's how long I'm giving the new boss to prove that he's somehow better." When Reactor 1 exploded, Kunsel had been about to leave the ShinRa. He had made his decision and had been in the process of tying up loose ends when it happened. The drop of the Sector 7 plate wasn't too long after. Those events made him stick around. Innocent people had died thanks to Avalanche, and he wanted to help bring them to justice. But now he had a very different idea of what might have been the fate of terrorist members of Avalanche.

The execution would have been one thing, but now the SOLDIER realized that there would have been a high chance that they ended up in a lab as unwilling participants. Strife would have been in for a return visit.

He knew there was a reason Elena and himself were sent here.

That was proof that Rufus was smart, but it was a far cry from being evidence that he was less evil. After all, Hojo had brains and Kunsel had seen plenty of proof of what he had done. The big question was, what was Rufus going to do about Hojo? Kunsel was a practical man, he understood that as long as Sephiroth was cozy inside the Northern Crater they probably had to keep the mad scientist around just for the knowledge he had. How long could they keep that up?

How long _would_ they tolerate Hojo?

***

"Boom shaka laka!" Kamiya shouted, "You SOLDIER's got nothing on me!"

Sadler rolled his eyes and tossed down the controller. "It's because this system is old, I move too fast for it to respond."

"I swear Sora," Leon said to Kamiya, "I don’t understand why you like these old game systems."

" _Classic_ systems," he clarified. "These games are great! Before all of that fancy stuff, when people had to build with limitations. It was simpler days."

"For a simpler mind, no doubt," came a female voice. Vaughn walked into the room, a bowl of popcorn in her hands.

"You're just all mad because _I_ am the master."

"We'll see," she said, gesturing to the SOLDIER for the controller, offering the popcorn in trade. "I'd like to play Snowboard Racer if you got it."

"pfft of course I do! Are you ready to be crushed?" he asked, changing out the game cartridge.

"I'm ready to race," she said confidently.

"Ok, but I warn you, the controls are just as awful as you remember."

"Are you guys still up?" A new voice said from the doorway.

"Oh, hey Wilson," Sadler said, nodding to the trooper, "Want to watch Kamiya beat us at old games that nobody plays anymore?"

"Not really… _why_ are you all still awake?"

"Bernard said Kunsel and Elena went out drinking." Kamiya explained, tilting his head slightly towards Leon, "I wanna see how wasted they are when they stumble back in."

"I thought you wanted to see if they end up making out," Vaughn smirked, picking out a chocobo for her snowboarder.

"I never said that!"

She shrugged, "I still think it though."

Wilson shook his head, "Even if they did, it's not like they'd risk getting caught, especially with all of the noise your making."

"I'm pretty sure they were looking to drown out some of the awful, not hook up," Leon said, taking a sip of his drink.

"Whattya mean?"

"Holy hell, Sora, have you even caught a glimpse of some of the files?"

"Nope! That's why I'm so good at classified document scanning. I get all zen when handling the papers, and barely acknowledge a thing."

"Or zone out," Vaughn clarified, "simple minds, like I said."

"But what do you mean, awful?" Sadler asked, he knew Kunsel was helping scan through some of the documents too and now he was concerned for his commander.

"I know Elena has to read a lot of it for her reports," Leon said, "and let's just say I've seen her go pale a couple of times. Anything that can do that to a Turk, I don’t want the details on." He looked in his cup and suddenly wished he had put alcohol in it. He had glimpsed seen some of the pictures too.

Wilson winced, "You've got a point. If that's the reason, I doubt any hanky panky is going to happen."

"'Hanky panky'?" Sadler echoed, "What are you, fifty?"

"If they're stressed out, doesn't that make it more likely?" Kamiya asked, leaning with his controller as his snowboarder took a turn on the screen. "I mean who wouldn't like a good lay to relieve the stress?"

Vaughn didn't roll her eyes, only because she was focused on the game. "One, like you would know, and two, Elena's not the type."

"She's not the type to what?"

"Sir!?" Sadler jumped to standing and saluted along with Wilson.

"Relaaax," Kunsel drawled, before leaning on the doorframe and crossing his arms, "We're all out of uniform."

"Are… are you drunk sir?" Sadler asked, almost incredulously.

Golden eyes lazily slid over to the man who asked and raised a brow. "Yes, I am. Just because I'm a First doesn't mean I don't have downtime and it certainly doesn’t mean that I can't have fun." Kunsel took a moment to think, was that two double negatives or one quadruple?

"Did you have fun?" Leon asked, amused at the sight of the strongest among them being so relaxed.

He shrugged, "Ate good food, drank good booze, didn't talk about work… about as much fun as we can have in this town."

"Where's Elena?" Asked Vaughn, putting the controller down while a stunned Kamiya looked at the screen and his second place position.

Kunsel tilted his head, "Stopped to get water in the kitchen, then to bed."

"Do you think she needs help?" As the only other female in the group, Vaughn felt she should at least offer, in case she needed assistance getting to bed.

"I'm sure she's fine," he said, "If I find her passed out in the hall I'll let you know." He stood from against the door frame and a metallic bang echoed down the hall. Kunsel rolled his eyes, "Dammit," he sighed, "monsters at the baby gate _again_?"

"Sorry sir, I guess we made too much noise." Sadler said, "I can go get Church and-"

Sadler stopped at the dismissive hand his senior officer gave him. Kunsel pulled back his jacket sleeve and looked at the materia in his bracelet. "Nah, I got this. You kids have fun."

He strolled lazily down the hall and several heads peeked out after him, watching him walk into the darkness. A dim blue glow haloed him as he began to channel the magic, followed by a bright flash of blue-white light. He turned back, and they heard nothing other than his booted steps come back towards them. When he walked back just into the light from the lamps they had re-wired, he gave them a thumbs up and walked into his room. "G'night kids."

"Night, dad," Kamiya called back, waving cheerfully.

Leon went back into the lounge, grabbed one of the bright work lights, pointed it down the hallway and turned it on. The light hit the dark, metal lattice of the monster gate and glistened off of the solid block of ice that filled the hallway just beyond it, one of the two torso'ed monstrosities frozen solid within.

***

It was nearly a week later and Kunsel was walking the halls of the lab again, he liked doing a quick patrol and making sure he knew every room and door in the facility, and until he had gone a week without finding any critters, he would not deem it safe. His steps stopped suddenly. For a moment he thought he heard a noise that didn't fit. He listened.

He was a little confused, as it sounded like a male screaming quietly, but it didn't sound muted. A little concerned, even though he knew almost everyone was in the library or above, he followed the sound, walking more lightly to mute the sound of his own boots. The sound came and went, and was accompanied by quiet thuds and bangs. As he got closer, he realized there was a tinny quality to it that spoke to him of it being an old recording. He found the source of the noise in one of the private labs.

Elena was standing in front of an old monitor, arms crossed over her chest, one hand holding the remote while she was chewing on her thumbnail. The screaming was coming from the TV that she was clearly forcing herself to watch if her expression was anything to go by. When she noticed him walk in from her right she glanced at him briefly, but otherwise kept her eyes on the screen.

Now in the same room as the source of the noise, Kunsel could also hear grunts of pain and the buzz of electricity that was overpowered by the screaming he had heard earlier. He was about to ask the blonde what she was doing when he turned to look at the TV. The camera angle was looking down into a cylindrical pit, metal bars across the top of it, which seemed excessive for something that appeared to be twenty feet deep. The floor of the pit was covered in a metal grating with electricity sparking across it.

Strapped to the middle of the floor was a man with black hair. Barefoot and shirtless he was writhing in pain as streaks of lightning shot across the screen. With the bright flashes it was still possible to make out the angry red stitches that went from over his right shoulder and down his chest, and another around his left bicep. "Holy shit, is that-"

"Vincent Valentine," she said in a carefully neutral voice. "Formerly of the Turks and now a member of Avalanche…"

"Scientifically altered" was certainly putting it mildly. If there was anything they had learned here, it was that Hojo never did anything halfway.

The scream turned into a deep bellowed roar as the screen went white for a second before revealing the massive shape of a stitched together gigas in the pit, no longer bound by the pathetic leather straps that had held the man. They watched as the gigas slammed against the walls and jumped up to grab onto the bars covering the pit. Kunsel noticed that the stitching on the gigas matched what was on the man.

Kunsel couldn't keep the horror from his voice. "What did Hojo do to him?"

"Materia infusion combined with the grafting of monster parts, both fresh and fossilized," she answered in a carefully deadpan voice. "He used flawed and cracked Transform and Summon materias. He practically ground them into dust and used them as glue." Kunsel turned his eyes to the woman, knowing that this knowledge did not just come from reading the reports. "He also used a Durability Materia and _Regen_ spells to keep Valentine from dying."

She picked up the coffee mug on the desk behind her, and the SOLIDER noticed the bottle on the desk was not for coffee. Therefore the mug was filled with something stronger than caffeine.

"How long have you been watching this stuff?"

She looked at her watch, "About two hours. This was the second form grafted onto him." He reached over and pushed the stop button on the machine. The screen went black for a second before turning blue. "What are you doing?" she asked, a strange combination of annoyance and gratitude in her voice.

"Stopping you from torturing yourself," he said. "We agreed, _no video_." It wasn't necessary to get the job done, and the paperwork and photos were nightmare inducing enough. He was almost mad at her for breaking their informal agreement. " _Why_ are you watching this?"

She looked him in the eye and he could see determination and pain in them, "Because I have to know."

He gestured at the TV without turning back to it. "This is more than you need to know."

She shook her head, "You don't understand. I have to know if _I_ can live with this."

"You- _we_ shouldn't have to live with this, Elena. _We_ didn't do this. For Gaea' sake, were you even born when this happened!?"

"It doesn't matter!" She threw the remote at the TV, his SOLDIER reflexes had him catching it without thinking. "The company-"

"Is changing!" he interrupted her. "Aren’t you the one who keeps telling me that things will be different? Most of the people around now weren't here for this shit. Even more people _never_ knew about it." He stepped up to her, taking hold of her shoulders. "Believe me, I'm a nosy bastard and I never imagined it was this bad either."

"What am I supposed to do now that I know this!?" she said, eyes shining with the threat of coming tears and face red in frustration and anger. "I want people to know what Hojo did, but I also want to bury it all and never think of it again!"

He sighed and reached down to take her wrist. "I think you've had enough for now. Both the drink and the work."

She snatched back her hand, "I have not _nearly_ had enough to drink."

"You need another outlet, come on, we're going upstairs."

"Why?"

"So you can smash some monsters or furniture."

For the first time since he found her here she looked a little embarrassed. "… I don't want the others to see me like this."

"Fine… then we can check the sewers. I hear there are Sahagin down there."

"No! I can't ignore that this information exists!"

"I'm not asking you to ignore it," he said seriously. "You're just... too deep in it now. Calm down, sober up and see if you can talk to Reno or Rude."

"Why would I…?"

"They've been Turks as long as I have been a SOLDIER, I am sure you can talk to them about how they handle dark secrets."

***

A fist struck him in the face and the red haired man's head whipped to one side. It was about time this guy landed a hit on him. Reno hopped back and grinned. His opponent was determined, he had challenged Reno every time they were both at the boxing club since he got back from Junon and the improvement was noticeable. "Nice hit, can you do it again?" He rushed in and his opponent's eyes went wide as he pulled his hands up to block, which actually worked. He managed to guard his face from a flurry of strikes before Reno pulled back.

The dark haired man recovered quickly and moved in on Reno, but in his addled state he wasn't nearly fast enough. The Turk danced backwards, and a jaunty tone filled the air from the bag in Reno's corner.

Damn, he was having fun for a change. Reno ducked swiftly to one side and went low before bringing up a fist while standing, putting his full body behind the blow. He caught the other man under the chin and his opponent landed hard. The Turk took a second to make sure the man was both out and still breathing. "Make sure he's ok, will ya?" He asked the man's coach who had already made his way into the ring. "I gotta take this."

In his corner he reached into his bag and pulled out the phone, before sighing at the name on it. He ended the fight for this? Oh well, it wasn't like she had been too needy lately and it was too late to get back to the fight now. He opened the phone and tried not to sound disappointed. "Hello, Elena."

"Hello, si-… Reno, do you have a minute?"

She used his name, that was unusual. He glanced back at his fallen opponent, the coach gave the Turk a thumbs up, letting him know that man would be ok. The gym had a few low level potions on hand, used to make sure that a fight wouldn't end in a funeral, but didn't do much healing otherwise. "Yeah, I do. Is this sensitive?"

There was a pause on the other side, "A bit… I'm having trouble dealing with what I found here."

Reno winced, and it had nothing to do with the bruise that was forming on his face. "Ok, first thing's first. Stop reading."

She sighed, "That's what Kunsel said."

"I've worked with him before, he's still alive because he's smart." Reno could have sworn that Kunsel was cut out to be a Turk. He grabbed his water bottle and took a quick sip. "Second, take a fucking break."

"What?"

"I bet you're overworkin' yourself. You've been there for what, four weeks? When was the last time you took a day off?"

"I uhh… couldn't the president wanted daily reports."

Reno shook his head at the overachiever. "Trust me, he has enough shit on his plate, if you miss one he ain't gonna notice."

"okay… But what about-"

He cut her off, "I'm at the gym. Give me twenty or thirty to shower and get back to quarters, then I'll call you back and we can really talk about what is bothering you in as much detail as you need. In the meantime, stop reading, stop _working_ and play a game or something." He hopped out of the ring and grabbed his bag, heading for the showers. "If I had to guess you've been wallowing in all of the shit you found there, you need to get some fresh air."

There was a pause and he imagined she was calculating something. "I guess I haven't really left the basement in a few days."

Reno looked at the phone like it had grown legs, "Wait, really? I didn't think I was being literal!" He slapped a hand over his face and immediately regretted it. He managed not to make a verbal sound of pain, but his next comment came out harsher for the burst of pain flavoring it. "Go the fuck outside!"

"Yes, sir!" she said in an immediate panicked response at his tone.

Reno rolled his eyes again and sighed. "Like I said, rookie, I'll call you in thirty. Bye."

***

"What's this?" Kunsel asked one evening, it was a few days after he found her watching the video of Valentine. The rest of the crew had already taken off for dinner, but as usual, Elena was still in the library. He picked up the note pad she had been writing on. It was odd for her to use paper. Everything she could do digitally was done that way.

"A list," she said flatly, scrolling through scanned paper work.

"Yes… a list of names, some are just initials. Whose names?"

"Scientists, lab techs, assistants. Anyone who worked down here."

"Ah… the tick marks?"

"How many reports they have signed off on, or were specifically listed as participants."

"… and the frowny faces?" He noticed several of them had multiples, less extreme ones being crossed out, they each had dates under them.

"How bad the worst thing they participated in was." She looked up at him to take the pad back and made a few marks. "If they left after a bad report, I'm giving them a pass on the last one." She pulled another pad out from under her laptop and looked up at him, "Would you help me with this one?"

He took it, more codes, some had names, others had brief descriptions. Each of these had two dates on them. "These are…"

"Victims," she finished for him, they had both refused to call them subjects when no one else was around. "The date of their first record and when they were last here… If they have a plus sign it means they got out alive… if not well." She only had one page of these names, and of the twenty or so there, only two were designated as such. None of these were from Project C.

"And I assume these are on paper as an unofficial side project?"

She grinned darkly, "I have hope that it will become officially needed in the future. I'm just getting a head start." Rufus probably wouldn't care about the dead as much. There wasn't much to be done about them. "Reno said if I want to do anything I should start with something I can do right now, that I'm good at."

He smiled at her, she really was green enough to still have some faith in Rufus, and Kunsel found himself being able to scrape together a little hope that she was right. "Why not, I'll go grab us some food and nab a bottle from the wine cellar first. Don’t go anywhere, Miss Elena."

"Ugh, please stop calling me that!"

**Author's Note:**

> What became a casual reference of "Kunsel exists in this timeline" turned into "Why is Kunsel here?" I combined this with another moment I had in my head, which I didn't feel I had enough of to write by itself. I was tempted to have some of this in the main story, but it added a lot to several chapters that were originally supposed to be only one, and I felt like it would have ruined the rhythm of the main story.


End file.
